Jun 16 2008
Join WAA (Writers Against Acronyms) ASAP!
It’s not that I’m against acronyms. It’s just that I think they’re often unnecessary. I mean, how much more work is it to hammer out “also known as” on the keyboard than “AKA,” which sounds like an illegal firearm or a sound you would make when a bug flies into your mouth? And really, is it that difficult to write “politically correct”? Do you really have to replace it with “PC” – especially when PC has another meaning?” I could understand all this if we were painstakingly carving our words into stone with hammers and chisels. But we’re not.
Many other acronyms are just plain stupid. Take “TEOTWAWKI” for example, which stands for “the end of the world as we know it.” There are two big problems with TEOTWAWKI: First, it takes longer to sound it out and write it down than it takes to write out the entire phrase. Second, most people would read it and say, “What the [ED] is that?” (By the way, “ED” stands for “expletive deleted.”) Another gem in the genre is “IYKWIMAITYD,” which is short for “if you know what I mean and I think you do.” Who’s going to memorize that one?
There are certain acronyms, however, that I do endorse. They fall into two categories. The first includes acronyms that, if spelled out, would be crude and lewd. Examples of these are “SOL,” “CYA,” the much-loved “SOB,” and the lesser known but attention-getting “SNAFU” and “FUBAR.” (Don’t ask me why abbreviating bad words makes them less bad, but it does.)
The other category of acceptable acronyms includes those that stand for words no one would know how to spell unless they had a dictionary on hand or were grade school spelling bee champions. These are usually foreign words. Examples are “AD” (anno domini), “MO” (modus operandi) and RSVP (répondez s’il vous plaît).
Having said all that, I should point out that one kind of writer should go ahead and embrace acronyms of all kinds: the text messager. People who are forced to use keyboards the size of postage stamps to communicate should take any shortcuts they can find.
I thought “SOB” stood for everybody’s favorite ambiguous verb type: “State of Being”.
Sample ambiguous usage:
“‘Is’ is an SOB verb, you sobbing SOB.”
Sorry for being so UPC, but I think even BC would be proud of the AA (acronymistic ambiguity). Imagine how much CingYA be done when one knows how to harness the ambiguity power of acronyms!
Tough call this war against acronyms. What would the ‘global village’ be without it?
From SEO to HTML, et cetera, the world wide web has intoduced a new ’speak’ in modern languages. Most people are struggling to come to terms with the confusion and the spill over into everyday communication. Sign me on for a volunteer!